historywikiaorg-20200223-history
Marie de Medici
Early Life (1573-1600) Maria di Medici was born in Florence, Italy to the wealthy and powerful House of Medici. She was raised like any other noble Italian woman. Though her relatives did teach her the art of political intrigue. '''Marriage to King Henry IV (1600-1610) In order to broker a political alliance with King Henry IV of France, Maria's parents saw fit to have her marry the king of France in 1600. She changed her name to Marie because it was French and instead of referring to herself as di Medici she called herself de Medici because de is French while di is Italian. While Marie did produce children, the marriage was not a happy one. The king had mistresses and Marie would frequently argue with them in language that would shock the royal court. In any case, Marie was not crowned queen of France until 1610. And just a day later, King Henry IV was assassinated. Queen Regent (1610-1617) The heir to the throne of France, Marie's son Louis XIII was still to young to rule. So Marie assumed the role of regent. Things went smoothly until 1614, when Marie attempted to tax the nobility. They hated the queen regent primarily because she also gave important posts to her Italian friends. In particular she made her favorite Count Consino Consini her first minister. Consini was very corrupt and so the nobles had had enough. In order to avoid armed conflict, Marie convoked the estates general (the French parliament which did not meet again until the French revolution). During the meetings, Marie was particularly impressed with the young clergyman Armand Jean Duplessis (the future Cardinal Richelieu). She had him join her staff and serve her. She made him the almoner and confessor for her son's wife Anne of Austria. The thing Queen Marie did not know was that Duplessis was plotting behind her back. In late 1616, the unpopular Consini was murdered on a bridge in Paris by unhappy nobles. That is when her power started to wane. In 1617, Louis XIII (Marie's son) reached his legal majority and took the crown as King Louis XIII. '''Confinement At Chateau Blois (1617-1619) Under the influence of Duplessis, King Louis exiled is mother to the Chateau Blois. Marie endured it for two years but then she escaped in 1619. Using King Louis's brother (her other son) the Duke of Orleans she began an aristocratic revolt against the king and against Duplessis (Cardinal Richelieu). Richelieu responded by offering Marie a position o the royal council. '''Royal Council (1619-1630) Marie swore revenge against Richelieu and his cronies for backstabbing her. She was constantly trying to undermine the Cardinal. Finally, in 1630, things came to a climax, Marie demanded that the king choose between Richelieu or her. Through much manipulation and fattery, Cardinal Richelieu convinced the weak minded King Louis XIII to permanently confine his mother to the Chateau Compiegne. But Marie escaped within a few weeks. She fled abroad. '''Exile Abroad (1630-1642) Marie de Medici fled to Brussels and then Amsterdam. She also vsited Cologne and even went to England and sojourned there for a while. All the time she plotted and schemed against Richelieu and regain power. But her efforts were ultimately fruitless. '''Death (1642) Marie de Medici died in 1642 in Amsterdam mere months before Richelieu kicked the bucket himself. '' Category:Colonial Italy